Miraz Jordan

New supermarket rules.

I’ve been queuing for 40 minutes since the supermarket opened and have just reached the sign telling me it’ll be about an hour wait from here. Glad I brought my book.

A great read: Slanging match

slang is not and never has been an exclusively male preserve. But each generation of critics has presented young women’s slang as … a worrying departure from the relatively recent past when girls were allegedly ‘genuine’ and modest.

I keep intending and forgetting to go to the beach to watch the sun set. Tonight I finally made it.

So rewarding to do a cryptic crossword again (it’s been a while). The intuitive leaps, the anagrams… I was rusty… Thanks to Black Ink for the perfect software and to Stella Zawistowski of The Inkubator for the free trial crosswords.

I looked up at the end of a photography training video to see the sun had set and the sky looked gorgeous. Trees silhouetted against a darkening sky.

Self isolation Day 6 (or maybe 7 or 8): a beach walk with dogs. Looking south and looking north.

My partner Deb’s current commute.

Ugh, today is my least favourite day of any year: April Fools Day. I hope there’s no stupid stuff this year, of all times.

First full day of my partner working from our 70 square metre home was revealing. I thought her job was a lot of writing papers and some meetings. Turns out it’s 95% or more meetings and calls. 😲

This is our temporary new neighbour. Sadly, she’s alone in her paddock, but she seems very calm. A friend told me she’s an elderly horse.

Passionfruit flower.

A tranquil river on a peaceful day.

Well, Aotearoa New Zealand has had its first Covid-19 death: an older person with underlying health vulnerabilities. 😒

This is great news for the future: Virtual consultations very effective - doctor

A family doctor using virtual consultations … says it works so well he hopes to keep using the method.

He …was able to diagnose a rib sprain with an online video check on a patient.

Fascinating. See what happens in an epidemic if more or less people self-isolate. Even a few breaking the rules can prolong everything hugely.

Simulating Many Scenarios of an Epidemic

what if … people still occasionally go to a central location like a grocery store?

With pouring rain and a cold southerly, today I lit the fire for the first time this year. Just a little one, for an hour or so, but it sure cheered things up.

How many times can the media, on behalf of the public ask if it’s “alright to drive to the beach or park for a walk” and for the PM to say “Yes, but keep it local”? Local is local is local! Meanwhile, folks over the road had visitors today… !!!! 😡

This pandemic lays bare the anatomy of our society.

Our response to the imminent threat of mass deaths from Covid-19 is to ask: What is essential to sustain life? In Aotearoa New Zealand the answer is food and medical help. We are at a Level 4 Alert, which means the country is shut down and we are to stay home, leaving only for those two essential reasons (or a health-supporting walk in the fresh air).

But there is also an essential support layer that requires people to be out of their homes: we need governance and security, we need a supply system for the essential goods: trucks and drivers, and people who maintain our ports, electricity, water, sewage, Internet, media. We need people who care for the vulnerable. We need a banking system and those who staff the supermarkets, cleaners for the offices of those who cannot work from home. We still need systems and people to deal with the dead, ensure animal welfare, to remove rubbish. Who grows and harvests the food?

And it goes even further: who produces the medical supplies such as protective masks, and where do the raw materials for them come from? Who repairs the supply trucks and where do the spare parts come from?

It's fascinating to see how our society is knitted together, how all the parts are ravelled together.

Our government (and all the policy analysts and scientists and communicators behind the scenes) have decided for us as a country what is essential and what is required for our welfare.

We all as individuals too are confronted by this question of What is essential to sustain life? We each need to map out for ourselves what is most essential in our own lives.

The social dimension is also being revealed. There are those who have two houses: town and country. If they decide to wait out the shutdown in the country there's a risk they bring the virus from a populous place to a remote location, then adding stress to perhaps already inadequate medical services.

Some folks live in overcrowded and perhaps underresourced accommodation. Some have no home and live on the streets. And then there are those for whom home is not a safe place at all, but instead a locus of violence.

And what about all the many visitors and migrant seasonal workers? With travel massively disrupted perhaps they can't get home. Where do they stay?

And on the other hand thousands of Kiwis have returned from overseas to wait out the pandemic in their own country.

It seems that every aspect of our society is being brought under scrutiny. All its inner workings are being revealed, and questioned.

This is a huge social anatomy lesson for all of us — on a macro and a micro level.

I had a very anxious 10 minutes this morning when I went to wake up my MacBook Pro and couldn’t get it going. It was plugged in and asleep overnight. After a bit I tried a different power point and the problem was solved. It had run out of juice. 🔌